Greater New Orleans

'Sex and the City': The New York tour

NEW YORK CITY -- Fifty-five people, and not a single one was wearing Manolo Blahniks.

Frankly, nobody was wearing anything over-the-top-stylish a la Carrie Bradshaw, alter ego of actress Sarah Jessica Parker, for the morning's first "Sex and the City" tour.

CRAIG BLANKENHORN / NEW LINE CINEMA A large New York City crowd looks outside the New York Public Library as Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Director/Writer Michael Patrick King and Cynthia Nixon prepare to shoot a scene during filming of the "Sex and the City" last year.

Nope, most of us on the 3 1/2-hour tour wore outfits that were cool -- temperature wise -- and sandals (not very strappy) -- and more than a few wore decidedly unhip sports shoes, unless New Balance counts as an in-demand label (I don't think so).

But we all had paid $42 apiece to climb into a big white 55-seat bus between the Plaza Hotel and the Fifth Avenue Apple store. A duplicate bus behind us boarded another 55 "Sex and the City" passengers.

It was a hot July morning in many ways.

Thousands of visitors to New York -- more than 100,000 in the past two years -- want to know all about the "girls" and places they hung out. The lures, of course, are Parker's Manolo Blahnik/Jimmy Choo-loving and heart-on-her-sleeve writer Carrie Bradshaw, and her celluloid pals Miranda (brainy and skeptical redhead, lawyer-turned-mother, played by Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (soft-hearted and naive brunette housewife and former art gallery manager, Kristin Davis) and Samantha (sexually insatiable blonde publicist, aka Kim Cattrall). And their men. Hello Big!

PHOTOS BY MILLIE BALL / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEEmily Sproch, an actress/screen writer, bites into a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery during a "Sex and the City" tour in July. Sproch, a guide on the tour, hands out cupcakes to all 55 tour participants.

There were mostly women, of course, and a surprising number of mothers and daughters.

At the first stop, The Pleasure Chest -- a shop with all sorts of unmentionables for sale behind a discreet gray awning and brick facade on Seventh Avenue South -- Suzanne, a mid-40ish mother from Texas, talked to her husband on her cell phone. "We're in a sex shop! I might have bought something if Hannah weren't here, " she said.

"Eeeew -- this is not working for me, " screeched her daughter, a recent high school graduate. "I mean, I've been in one of these before, but I just don't want to be in one with my mom!"

Suzanne confided to a stranger: "I've never seen the TV show or the movie, so I really can't relate; I thought we were going to a pet store when the guide mentioned The Rabbit."

If you don't understand, ask someone.

MILLIE BALL / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEResidents of 66 Perry Street in Greenwich Village, which is used for exterior shots of Sarah Jessica Parker's apartment, have asked that tour groups not take photos. But some go back during a tour break and other fans find it on their own.

The company's 10 guides, all women, are actors and performers who claim to love the show. Sprock, a native of Maine, is an actor and script writer. The petite 28-year-old brunette was enthusiastic and sassy as she revved up the crowd.

"What happened at Tiffany's?" she asked as the bus passed the Fifth Avenue jewelry store.

"Charlotte proposed to Trey, " shouted a passenger.

Sprock beamed like a proud mother.

She showed clips from the TV show and movie. Clicking on the original opening credits, she asked, "What editing mistake was made?" We stared at the screens. Nobody knew. "Look at the bus right before Carrie is splashed. There are people inside. When it drives away, the bus is empty."

Ahhhh. Yes.

Tons of scenes were filmed in The Village, she said as the bus kept rolling. A major reason is that streets are short in Greenwich Village, so there weren't major disruptions the way there would have been -- and were -- in midtown. Sprock said it took almost four weeks to shoot the movie scenes with Carrie in her wedding dress at the New York Public Library, because it was so chaotic and so many people watched every move outside.

Arturo Huertas and Laura Fernandez, newlyweds from Madrid, Spain, share a Cosmopolitan at Onieal's Grand Street bar in New York City during a "Sex and the City" tour. The bar was the location of Scout, which was run by SATC characters Steve and Aden.

In fact, exteriors of Carrie's brownstone were shot at 66 Perry St. in the West Village, not on East 73rd Street as the script says.

"You may shed a tear when you walk down the street, " said Sprock. But no photos. She handed out laminated flyers for everyone to read, asking -- begging -- that no one take pictures in front of the brownstone, which has a no trespassing (or sitting on the stoop) sign out front.

The folks who live there get a wee bit annoyed when 55 people stop en masse three times a day weekdays and up to 10 times on weekends. And all go SNAP. Understandable.

So we tromped by like obedient first-graders on a school excursion. Sprock led us to a little park on Bleecker Street and West 11th (Miranda played with her son here), across from the Biography Bookshop and Magnolia Bakery (Miranda and Carrie ate cupcakes outside while they talked about Aden, Carrie's onetime love, played by John Corbett -- the love interest in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and the radio announcer in "Northern Exposure -- who now is a country singer, voice of the Applebee commercials and real-life boyfriend of Bo Derek, said Sprock). Whew. Lots of stuff here.

While Sprock picked up 55 cupcakes from Magnolia (delicious fluffy icing), a couple of us sneaked back to Perry Street to -- I apologize now -- take pictures of "the brownstone."

Honeymooners from Spain asked me to take their photo in front of the steps. "We can't go back to Madrid without a picture of the house!" said Arturo Huertas, 34, while his bride, Laura Fernandez, 31, stifled a little giggle. Me too.

From left, Traci Templeton, her sister Tami Burlson and their mother Nancy Wilson - all from Texas - toast the "Sex and the City" gang with cosmos at Onieal's Grand Street bar.

In Soho, we craned our necks to see a Prince Street art gallery from West Broadway, looking for a sculpture that resembled a twisted silver ribbon. This is where Charlotte worked in the early days of the series, but the real gallery owner kept upping his day rate, so the script writers had her quit, said Sprock.

At the final stop, Onieal's Grand Street bar, 174 Grand St., Cosmopoli-tans were $9 for tour members; regular customers pay $11. On the TV show, this was Scout, the bar owned by Aden and Steve, and named after Steve's dog. If you don't know who they are, it's too late to explain now.

The newlyweds shared a cosmo and took photos. A Texas trio -- Nancy Wilson and her grown daughters Traci Templeton and Tami Burleson -- each had their own cosmo and toasted one another. And we all -- with drinks or not -- smiled and in our hearts toasted Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. You go, girls! We did.

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Millie Ball can be reached at mball@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3462._________________________

IF YOU GO ON TOUR IN NEW YORK

'Sex and the City' tours: The 31/2-hour 'R-rated' tour costs $42 and leaves weekdays at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Private tours also available. On Location Tours, 212.683.2027.

More TV and movie tours: The same company runs tours of New York movie and TV sites; 'Sopranos' locations (weekends only); Central Park movie sites; and TV and movie locations in Washington, D.C. A new tour, TV and Movie Sites on the Water, is jointly operated on Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. with New York Water Taxi.

Chris Noth's club and bar: Noth, who plays 'Big, ' Carrie's true love (as well as Det. Mike Logan on "Law and Order"), co-owns The Plumm, a nightclub at 246 W. 14th St. (at Eighth Avenue), and The Cutting Room, a restaurant/club at 19 W. 24th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), 212.691.1900.

Other tours:

A good source is New York Tours (scroll to Most Popular Tours and Activities -- the Soul Food and Jazz Tour in Harlem looks interesting), or call 800.208.4421.

Food Tours of New York offers excellent walking and tasting tours (I'll report on the Greenwich Village Culture and Food Tour soon).